I said, Sufferings are coming on. Some Wicked Men, whereof the Principal was one Randolph, the Tool whom the Court sent over with the Demand of the Full Submission and Entire Resignation which we have been Speaking of: Perpetrated an Uncommon Villainy, which brought the very Life of Mr. Mather, as the Ahabitic Times then went, into no little Danger. Having in their way, that is to say, Basely, Circumvented some Innocent Letters of his, to an Eminent Person in Amsterdam, which Enabled them to Imitate his Hand in Subscribing of his Name; They forged a large Letter of Three Pages in Folio, full of not only Ridiculous, but also Treasonable Expressions, whereof not one Sentence was his; and with a Date of, Boston, 10. m. 3. d. 1683. they Subscribed his Name unto it. This Letter was Read before the King and Council, and Motions were made for Mr. Mather, to be fetched over, and ⟨p. 94⟩made a Sacrifice: a Sidney, or a Cornish; or as afterwards they would have done, a Rosewel. The Advice of this, gave no little Trouble to Mr. Mather, and his Friends; and what he wrote upon it was; That which Troubled me, was, that I was like to Suffer as an Evil-doer, through the Malice and Falsehood of Wicked Men. Might I have Suffered for any Truth, which I had born Witness to, I could have rejoiced in it; But now, GOD was not like to have Glory by my Sufferings. This was […] very sad Thought unto me. Methinks [If I may say so,] He did not Comfortably enough consider, That his Testimonies to Truth and Right, and the Figure he made in Serving the Churches of GOD, lay at the Bottom of all, and Procured him what he was now Suffering from the Malice and Falsehood of Wicked Men; and their Contrivances to Represent him as an Evil-Doer, were but Aggravations of the Suffering. But it may be, he will by and by, after the Aestuation is a little spent, come to a just Reflection.—
I said, Sufferings are coming on. Some Wicked Men, whereof the Principal was one Randolph, the Tool whom the Court sent over with the Demand of the Full Submission and Entire Resignation which we have been Speaking of: Perpetrated an Uncommon Villany, which brought the very Life of Mr. Mather, as the Ahabitic Times then went, into no little Danger. Having in their way, that is to say, Basely, Circumvented some Innocent Letters of his, to an Eminent Person in Amsterdam, which Enabled them to Imitate his Hand in Subscribing of his Name; They forged a large Letter of Three Pages in Folio, full of not only Ridiculous, but also Treasonable Expressions, whereof not one Sentence was his; and with a Date of, Boston, 10. m. 3. d. 1683. they Subscribed his Name unto it. This Letter was Read before the King and Council, and Motions were made for Mr. Mather, to be fetch'd over, and ⟨p. 94⟩made a Sacrifice: a Sidney, or a Cor•ish; or as afterwards they would have done, a Rosewel. The Advice of this, gave no little Trouble to Mr. Mather, and his Friends; and what he wrote upon it was; That which Troubled me, was, that I was like to Suffer as an Evil-doer, through the Malice and Falshood of Wicked Men. Might I have Suffered for any Truth, which I had born Witness to, I could have rejoiced in it; But now, GOD was not like to have Glory by my Sufferings. This was 〈…〉 very sad Thought unto me. Methinks [If I may say so,] He did not Comfortably enough consider, That his Testimonies to Truth and Right, and the Figure he made in Serving the Churches of GOD, lay at the Bottom of all, and Procured him what he was now Suffering from the Malice and Falshood of Wicked Men; and their Contrivances to Represent him as an Evil-Doer, were but Aggravations of the Suffering. But it may be, he will by'nd by, after the AEstuation is a little spent, come to a just Reflection.—
